A new mission

written by Francesca Pirozzi (Volunteer)

We all have a dream!

Have you ever had enough “courage” to believe that your dream could come true?

Well, two years ago my dream came true!

My name is Francesca Pirozzi and I am 27 years old. My job is to work for children. When I was younger I joined the Franciscan Fraternity. Later, I became a member of the Franciscan Youth, a community which welcomes all the young people who want to live their lives according to the teachings of Saint Francis. I have been working as volunteer of the Nolite Timere onlus for almost three years, that is the reason why two years ago I was given the opportunity to go to Rwanda and visit the Cité of Nazareth. An unforgettable experience!

I did not have a doubt about “my mission”, despite all the bad things I had been told about Rwanda.

First of all, let me introduce to you. My name is Gianni and I have been working with the Nolite Timere Onlus for more than a year. Together with other volunteers, I have had the possibility to visit Rwanda, also called “the Country of great lakes and thousand hills”.

Rwanda is “colored”, with many wonderful landscapes … very different from what I had imagined. It is as large as Piemonte in Italy, populated by a 8 million people. On the hills, among banana trees, people live by cultivating beans, maize, rice and coffee. Rwanda is based on a subsistence economy, the luckiest own a cow, some chickens  and one or two goats. There are few possibilities to find a job, maybe in the agricultural field.

Also this year, a group of volunteers has gone and visited our children in the Cité of Nazareth. We were three prepared and extremely motivated girls.

I was the responsible of this mission. My task was to collect information about our little guests and to renew the relationship between children and their foster parents. A professional photographer, my friend Angela, was able to impress some of the most beautiful moments spent there. Her marvelous photos will be printed in the Nolite Timere’s 2007 Calendar so that our generous benefactor will be able to understand how important their help is for us. Ida, another friend of our charitable institution, helped us to manage the distribution of school equipment, sport clothes, games and all the letters written by foster parents to their adopted children.